Providing a network-based service generally involves provisioning both hardware and software. An example of such a network-based service is offering different levels of access to the Internet (referred to as “Quality of Service (QoS)”) through a service provider's network.
When a subscriber wishes to subscribe to the service, typically a person at the service provider manually configures the hardware and software components of the necessary network elements to allow the subscriber to consume the service. Such configuration might, for example, involve setting up configuration files on a QoS server and configuring a gateway and a firewall to allow information from the subscriber to pass through the service provider's network and reach the Internet. This can be a time-consuming task.
A product is provided that facilitates and automates this configuration process. A service provider can use this product to publish an offering of various networked-based services to subscribers. The subscriber can choose to subscribe to the service. Once the subscriber has agreed to subscribe, the product is used to register the subscriber for the service so that the necessary configuration operations can be performed on the network elements automatically. An example of such a product is the xAuthority software system available from Atreus Systems Corp., of Ottawa, Ontario.
Typically service provider personnel use the xAuthority system to publish a service offering to a subscriber. When the subscriber expresses interest in a particular service, service provider personnel use the xAuthority system to subscribe the subscriber to the service. Once subscription has taken place, the subscriber registers for the service. Thereafter, the service is initiated. The subscriber registers by accessing a service portal of the xAuthority system and provides inputs to a preconfigured state machine. After the subscriber is registered, the state machine initiates the service by provisioning network elements to provide the service to the subscriber.
The registration process contains many steps and can be quite complex. Delays occur during this process, which involves many events. Initiating a service is slowed when numerous complex registration steps are repeated prior to each time a subscriber intermittently uses a service. Impatient subscribers wait while all of the registration steps are repeated when those subscribers wish to return to the service. An impatient subscriber may therefore be dissuaded from using the services. A solution is desired.